726 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



festly broad-headed. This Alpine racial characteristic is intensi- 

 fied all along the northern frontier. In proportion as one pene- 

 trates the mountains this phenomenon becomes more marked. It 

 culminates in Piedmont along the frontier of France. Here, as 

 we have already shown in our general map of Europe, is the 

 purest representation of the Alpine race on the continent. Dr. 

 Livi has photographed a recruit from this region for me. It is 

 reproduced upon this page. The rounded fullness at the fore- 

 head and the shortness of head from front to back can not fail of 

 notice. Across the frontier, in French Savoy, the same racial 

 type is firmly intrenched in the high Alps. Such is also the prev- 

 alent physical type of the Swiss, who are descendants of the 

 Rhsetians of Roman times. Still further back we come upon 

 the prehistoric lake dwellers. No change of race has here taken 

 place since very early times. All indications point to a primitive 

 occupation and a persistent defense of the Alpine highland by 

 this broad-headed racial type.* 



This Alpine type in northern Italy is the most blond and the 

 tallest in the kingdom. This, of course, does not imply that these 

 are really a blond and tall people. Compared with those of our 

 own parentage in northern Europe, these Italians appear to be 

 quite brunette ; hair and eyes in our portrait type were classed as 

 light chestnut. Standing in a normal company of Piedmontese, 

 an Englishman could look straight across over their heads ; for 

 they average three to five inches less in bodily stature than we in 

 England or America ; yet, for Italy, they are certainly one of its 

 tallest types. The traits we have mentioned disappear in exact 

 proportion to the accessibility of the population to intermixture. 

 The whole immediate valley of the Po, therefore, shows a distinct 

 attenuation of each detail. We may in general distinguish such 

 ethnic intermixture from either of two directions : from the north 

 it has come by the influx of Teutonic tribes across the mountain 

 passes ; from the south, by several channels of communication 

 across or around the Apennines from the peninsula. For exam- 

 ple, the transition from Alpine broad heads in Emilia to the 

 longer-headed population over in Tuscany near Florence is rather 



* Whether this brachycephalic population is to be identified historical!}' with the 

 " Liguiians " or not is still matter of earnest dispute. Nicolucui, Calori, and most foreif^ii 

 authorities answer it affirmatively. On the other hand, such eminent specialists as Livi, 

 Sergi, and Zampa agree in tracing the Ligurians l)aek to a still more [jrimitive and under- 

 lying stratum of population. This original stock was dolichocephalic, identical with the 

 Mediterranean type in the south. Its direct descendants and survivors are the people of 

 the modern province of Liguria, to be described shortly. These latter writers hold the broad 

 headed more recent overlying people to be the true Ccltu' invaders from the Alps. Which- 

 ever theory be correct, we may rest assured of the ethnic facts in the case. There is no 

 longer doubt of the two distinct strata. To christen them is a relatively unimportant 

 matter, from our point of view. 



